Visit to the Parque Metropolitana, Quito, Ecuador

Visited the Metropolitan Park in Quito, Ecuador on Saturday. Had a potluck party in the park. We were expected to leave our places by 10:30, but overcast skies meant that people dilly dallied and looked for ways and means to squiggle away from the visit. Also the whole week at sharp 3:00 PM it had been raining and the whole days had been cloudy and gloomy.But finally at 11:30 all decided to take the plunge, especially after all the food that had prepared, it had to be consumed.One family was already in the park by 10:30. This was the only family to have a vehicle of its own. So we took taxis to the gate of the park from where the lunches were packed into the car of this family along with the ones who did not want to walk it up to the place where we were supposed to gather. This place was about half a kilometer away.The park is more of woods than a full fledged park. There are clearings in the woods which are like mini parks within the woods.The woods are full of trees of different kinds, but predominated by Eucalyptus trees. There is also a variety of flowering plants that one can see. They do not seem be grown or manicured, but they are just there.One thing that seems missing in the park are birds. There is a dearth of birds in the park. There are very few birds in the park. In fact in whole of Quito there are hardly any birds for some reason. The birds that are there are also not easy to sight as they are too few.It is a good place to go to over the weekend or holiday and let the children play in the various amusements for the children and relax a bit.The park itself is at an elevation above the city and from one side of the park one can see the Cumbaya Valley as that side is at an elevation compared to the valley. And one can see the mountains beyond the Valley. It is an enchanting view.One can also see Llamas grazing in some parts of the wood. There is a sort of lake in the park. But again devoid of any visible life in it. There may be fishes, but it was not visible as the lake itself was fenced off.Overall the day was spent roaming around the place where we had our lunch and the children played to the heart’s content.On the way back we decided to hike it down to the city. Only after taking the plunge did everybody realize it was not as easy as it looked like. The path is not a smooth one and one had to walk quite a bit and by the time we reached the city and our destination, everybody was dog tired.But it was a day well spent and worth the trip.

Some photographs from the trip.

Llama grazing

Son Surya and Wife Aruna overlooking the Cumbaya valley

One of the several dogs that were romping around the park drinking water from the pipe.

A strange flower that looks like leaves. Or are they leaves in a flower like pattern?

It had rained in the morning and so all the flowers had drops of water on it.